Hamilton Hall chemistry labs are getting a much-needed upgrade.
Almost one-third of all UNL students end up in Chemistry 109 labs during their college careers, 80 percent of them as entering freshmen - that's about 1,700 students per year. These labs were state of the art when Hamilton Hall opened in 1970; today, they are dreary, substandard, inefficient barriers to teaching and learning. Some students report their high school chemistry labs are more modern. And, chemistry faculty don't even show these labs to potential students.
But that will change as UNL is spending about $1.6 million to renovate four of the labs. Demolition started during spring break, with the renovations scheduled to open for the spring 2012 semester.
The new labs will change how the department teaches chemistry, and add flexibility to scheduling. Long-term, one goal is to reduce the number of rooms dedicated to undergraduate labs, currently 27, to 17 but use each lab up to 12 times per week. The space reclaimed by more efficient lab use can be used for other research operations, said Jim Takacs, department chair.
The biggest changes for the new labs will be reconfiguration of bench space from lines where students stand shoulder-to-shoulder to "islands" where students will face each other for group work. New ways to share and store equipment will make it easier to set up and clean up. Adding access for computers to each workstation, plus flat-screen monitors, cameras and microphones will allow students to easily see and hear instructors. The labs will be made more ADA-friendly. Hallways will include conversation nooks.
Eric Malina, an associate professor of practice, is developing a new curriculum for the undergraduate labs. He said current teaching trends focus on collaboration. The new lab experiments he is developing and the new "island" lab benches will be integrated to encourage that.
To refurbish all the labs will take another $5 million. The university is using internal allocations for this upgrade, but will be seeking donations to complete the project.
Read more about the lab upgrade in the March 31 edition of the Scarlet.
- Kim Hachiya, University Communications